Thanks ladies. I got checked yesterday at my OB appointment and a week ago (after having lots of pressure sensations and contractions that made me nervous.) A week ago I was 1 cm and my cervix was long. yesterday I was 1-2 and 70% effaced, and baby has moved to a -1 station. So I know that things are progressing. I was hoping they wouldn't progress too quickly, but so far, so good, she's still in there and I'm 36+3.

Just a small FYI - but you may already know - cervical checks, if you are trying to prevent labor from starting, are not always a good idea. You can irritate your cervix and CAUSE contractions. It's best to just leave it alone and let it do it's own thing.

This is for a few reasons - 1) if you ARE in TRUE labor, you will know and they don't need to do a cervical check to see that, 2) being as far along as you are, they are unlikely to stop your labor anyway, and 3) checking your cervix gives no indication at all how much longer your baby still stay put - it's completely useless information.

Pressure sensations and painful BH are normal for this late in pregnancy.

I wasn't sure if you were aware of that or not. I'm not trying to pressure you or guilt you, just hoping to pass along some info that might be useful to you.

I debated getting checked at all. I have lots of BH contractions all the time, as I did in my last pregnancy, starting very early on. But the type of contraction and the sensations of pressure were definitely changing, so I wanted to find out what was going on, such as knowing if the pressure was because of a bulging bag of water. I spoke to my mother, who is a CNM, before deciding to get checked. Based on the fairly abrupt change in symptoms, she advised me to.

Both of my prior labors started with pPROM and moved along fairly quickly. I was about 1cm dilated and anywhere from 50-90% effaced when my water broke, and went from that to holding a baby in 8 hours the first time and 5 hours the second time. If my water doesn't break ahead of time this time, waiting until I can't talk or walk through contractions could quite easily result in me giving birth in my car, since I'm about 40 minutes from the hospital on a good day. In rush hour traffic, it can be over an hour.

So while I agree that it could be days or weeks still before this baby makes her appearance, and that the check didn't tell me that her arrival was imminent, it did give me some information. There are cervical changes going on and the baby is getting into position. It encouraged me to get my last minute things packed, double check that plans are in place for my two older children, and remind my husband to talk to his boss about their plans for his leave. It also has helped me to not feel guilty about taking the extra two weeks off from work and to try to force myself not to push it too hard but to really rest, knowing that it really could be any time now.